1. Field of the invention
The invention concerns a portable and possibly rechargeable packaging unit for a liquid to pasty product such as mascara, comprising an applicator and a reservoir provided with at least one wiper. More precisely, the applicator comprises a handle supporting at least one tuft of bristles, these bristles being of a specific shape and length and capable of applying mascara to keratinous fibers, and eyelashes in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many devices for the application and for the packaging of mascara have been proposed which generally comprise a rigid tubular body, open at one end, containing the make-up product, and an applicator capable of being accommodated in this body and provided with a stem ending in a brush. A wiper accommodated in the body ensures that the brush and/or the stem are wiped when the applicator is withdrawn from the body. However, one of the drawbacks encountered when the known devices for the application and the packaging are used, is that the applicator behaves like a piston during its displacement in the rigid body, thus creating a disagreeable sucking noise by the sudden return of the interior of the body to atmospheric pressure.
When the make-up product is fluid, the wiper comprises a constricted portion so as to effect the wiping of the stem of the brush. Thus there is prevented from being left on the stem a quantity of the product which could, during the use of the brush, come to flow onto the stopper of the applicator and thus foul the thread of the applicator which is intended for fixing the stopper on the body. This constricted portion contributes to increasing the intensity of the emitted sucking noise. Moreover, when the applicator is being withdrawn, a quantity of the mascara coming from the wiping of the stem is accumulated at the periphery of the constricted portion of the wiper and forms an accumulation which is splattered by a Venturi effect towards the end of the brush when the air suddenly enters into the rigid body. This splattering of the mascara at the end of the brush understandably constitutes a nuisance as far as the user is concerned, and causes a loss of the product.
Another drawback presented by the known application and packaging devices is the shearing of the formula of the mascara during the wiping of the brush in the way described above. Indeed, in such devices, the wiping breaks the formula of the mascara since it is effected perpendicularly to the bristles of the brush; the mascara is subjected to a variation in viscosity; it may form clumps producing a poor smoothing of the eyelashes. This is, in particular, the case with the mascaras having a high pigmentary charge. The existence of this phenomenon necessitates the use of compositions that are not susceptible to shear, and limits the choice of mascara compositions that can be used.
Finally, these mascara application and packaging devices have the drawback that they are large in size and their contents frequently dry out before being entirely used up. It is therefore impracticable for the same user to have available several mascara products, for example of different colors. Moreover, the known rechargeable type of device is also large in size and the product dries before being entirely used up, losing its making-up properties.
There thus remains the need for a portable and rechargeable mascara packaging unit in which all the product could be used up to the end without the risk of drying out, and while the product retains all its making-up properties.